To cakbo-oxygree



Patented Aug; 12, 1924.

tsetse? JOHN HARRIS, 0F LAKEWGOD, QHIO, ASSIGNOR 'IEO CABBO OXYGEN COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAVJARE.

GASEOUS FUEL.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, JOHN HARrus, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lakewood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gaseous Fuel, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to gaseous fuel capable of use for the purpose of cutting and welding metals as well as for heating large plates or masses of metal for the shaping thereof. J

It was originally proposed to employ hydrogen alone as the combustible element in blow pipe gases, but pure hydrogen ofl'ers certain disadvantages, one of which is its great intensity of combustion which concentrates the flame into a Very small space. A further disadvantage is that all parts of the flame are colorless, thus rendering it impossible for any but the most skilled opera tiveto adjust the flame with referenceto the oxygen admitted, or to apply the same in proper position to the work performed.

It has been proposed to impregnate the hydrogen with certain hydrocarbons which by reason of their slower combustion should spread the flame more widely and which by reason of their visible combustion should define the position of the reducing cone and thus assist both the adjustment of the gas supply and in theapplication of the flame to the work. However the admixture of hydrocarbon entails two decided disadvantages; first, the very low flame temperature which most of them produce which impedes the operation of the torch or blowpipe even when used in a mixture with hydrogen; and second, their complicated molecular structure, which necessitates a great preponderance of oxygen inorder to consume the same. For example, ten cubic feet of hydrogen can be completely consumed by five cubic feet of oxygen at the same pressure; but ten cubic feet of methane (CH at the same pressure will require twenty cubic feet of oxygen for its complete combustion; ten cubic feet of ethane (6 1-1 will require thirty five cubic feet of oxygen; and ten cubic feet of benzene (C H will requir seventy five cubic feet of oxygen for its com- Serial No. 349,588.

- plete combustion. However these gases can be used successfully in admixture with hydrogen. if restricted to a sufficiently small percentage of the whole as by being pre viously mixed with a suitable combustible Vehicle of low molecular complexity, small oxygen consumption and high flame temperature.

I have found that a mixture of hydrogen with from 15% to of ordinary coal gas will serve excellently well as a cutting gas and even to some extent as a welding gas where the requirements are not too severe. This gas is made by the destructive distillation of soft coal either in gas retorts or in by-product coke ovens.

The composition of the gas is substan- -I preferably mix the coal gas with hydrogen in the volumetric proportion of Per cent. Hydrogen 85 to 50 Goal gas 15 to 50 The gases may be mixed. in the proportions stated before being compressed and stored for use, or the same may be admitted simultaneously into the torch from two separate receptacles or supply sources by adjusting the valves so as to pass the same at substantially the proportions indicated.

The heat units produced by the combustion of the mixture of hydrogen and coal gas will be greater than that produced by the combustion of hydrogen alone. This increase in heat units renders my gaseous fuel particularly useful in preheating large masses of metal, such as castings, prior to cutting the same since it compensates for the loss of heat due to the conductivity of such masses. Even at the lower limit (15%) the coal gas will compensate, by reason of the (iii increase in heat units over hydrogen alone, to fifty per cent by volume of Coal gas of 15 for the loss'of heat by conduction in metal substantially the following composition: of considerably greater mass than possessed by the plates With. Which blowpipes are 0r- G H 5 dinarily employed, While at its upper limit 4 (50%) it Will compensate for such loss in b 20 practically any mass of metal. H 11 This application is, in some respects, a i 5 continuation of my applicationNo. 250,637 0 p 10 filed August 20, 1918. v '5 Having thus described my invention What 7 2 25 I claim is I In testimony whereof, I hereunto :ifiix my A gas for the purpose specified comprissignature. ing a mixture of hydrogen With from fifteen JOHN HARRIS. 

